Fly on the Wall

Writing for The Hartford Courant, Naomi Rogers, a professor
of women's studies, suggests that our collective fear of a deadly
epidemic creates "ineffective strategies" and "misplaced blame." Rogers
isn't surprised that, in spite of prevailing medical opinions, some
people are calling the latest outbreak of influenza the "Mexican flu"
and using it as proof that America's southern border should be
hermetically sealed.

"Throughout history, there has been a tendency to blame 'outsiders'
for the spread of epidemics," Rogers writes. Her debunking may create
more anxiety than it alleviates since it's essentially a chronicle of
one devastating illness after another. She even quotes "Memphis Flu
Blues," which was written by Pastor David Curry following a 1928
influenza outbreak in Tennessee: "The Memphis flu is in our bed/ And it
will surely kill us dead/ If we don't turn away from our shame/ I got
Memphis flu."

Quoted

Los Angeles Times blog "The Dish" on Justin Timberlake's new
901 Tequila: "The Dish positively yearns for the day it can roll up to
House of Spirits and ask for 'a bottle of your finest Timberlake
vintage, good sir' while fielding three successive booty calls on three
different Swarovski-encrusted iPhones. Because that's how we roll."

Honk Honk!

The Wall Street Journal online edition recently quoted an
extended passage from Down Home with the Neelys that finds Pat
Neely remembering a suggestive-sounding bumper sticker for barbecue
lovers that may or may not exist: "We've even got bumper stickers down
here that say, 'Honk if you love it pulled.'"

Google has never heard of such a bumper sticker. And neither has any
of the Fly-Team's 'cue experts. But with pig fest right around the
corner, it sounds like a number-one seller for some enterprising bumper
sticker salesman. Hint, hint.